Penny Arcade's two main characters spend their time bickering about games, game makers, movies, each other, or just popular culture in general. They're both members of a gaming clan called Clan Walrus, and prepend "CW" to their nicknames in games.[1] Tycho also does this with his name at the end of his blog posts.[2]

Jonathan "Gabe" Gabriel is Mike Krahulik's comic alter ego. He is energetic and free-spirited, but has a propensity to become extremely angry (with his eyes sometimes turning red, just like Tycho) and has murdered and robbed at least one person. He has a Pac-Man tattoo on his right arm,[3][4][5] as well as a tattoo in honor of SNK on his back.[6] He also has feet that are similar to hands, which he can use to grip things, a physical trait that is an annoyance to Tycho.[7]

He has a fascination with unicorns, a secret love of Barbies and is a dedicated fan of Spider-Man and Star Wars. He practices line dancing with the Kansas City Hotsteppers.[8] He has an odd affinity for a large cardboard tube, which he had fantasies of wielding as a wandering samurai, often in ancient Japan (see Cardboard Tube Samurai below). He was for a short time addicted to Tribes but soon grew out of it. He is, in direct opposition of Tycho, an ardent advocate for the rights of publishers and seems to choose his games based on how popular the game's publisher and/or developer is (he is obsessed with Destiny, but shuns the oft compared Borderlands), thus causing Tycho (who himself both hates publishers and likes Borderlands) to label him a "goddamn sycophant." He also has an obsession with his own genitalia and possible latent homosexual tendencies,[9][10][11][12][13] a pet phoenix, a unicorn,[14] and the Rocketeer's jetpack.[15]

Recently, he has been diagnosed with "General Anxiety Disorder", with a hint of OCD.[16] He also once received a blood transfusion from Spider-Man, and was shown to be able to shoot webs in a similar fashion, although this has not been mentioned in the strip since. In addition, Darth Vader may be Gabe's father - he "knew" his mother during the 1970s. As a parent, Gabe enjoys that his sons play video games and constantly tries (and fails) to get them to like Star Wars or to get them into older, more traditional games, even claiming he had failed as a father after his older son was discovered to enjoy playing Kinect Star Wars. Gabe also resents the idea of limiting the access children have to the internet, believing that it is no different from limiting a child's access to paper, which becomes an issue when dealing with parents who, unlike him, are not gamers or webcomic artists.

He also claims to have had his urethra removed when he was 10; according to him, they let him eat "All the ice cream [he] wanted."[17] This may be a case of Gabe mistaking one word for another, or simply making things up. In a similar incident, when Tycho was talking about childbirth and mentioned the placenta, Gabe responded that the best part was "the cold placenta sandwiches the next day". It was recently revealed that his garage is built above a warren that has been "forgotten by the good people of the Earth", and is home to a truly ancient Deep Crow (see Deep Crows below).[18]

Krahulik eventually named his son "Gabriel", in honor of the character.[19]

In the game Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Gabe is reimagined as a former prizefighter and the overly violent hired muscle of Tycho Brahe's detective agency. He claims to have met Tycho after he fought the devil. He does the least damage of the playable characters, but is the fastest and has the highest amount of hit points.

Tycho Brahe is Jerry Holkins' comic alter ego (named after the Danish astronomerTycho Brahe). Bitter, sarcastic, and almost invariably clad in a blue-striped sweater, Tycho enjoys books, role-playing video games, unnecessarily large words, and deflating Gabe's ego. According to Tycho, "Some people play tennis, I erode the human soul."[20] He used to work as a telemarketer, because he hates to think that there's someone happier than he is. He was so good at telemarketing, they still have "Tycho Tuesdays" in his honor ("you can wear jeans").[21]

He is a rabid fan of Harry Potter and Doctor Who.[22][23] He is also the author of a series of fantasy novels that have attracted cult appeal, with a fanbase rabid enough to murder anyone who threatens the franchise's success. He is also an enthusiast of Dungeons & Dragons, for the purposes of which he is often shown using glowing red d20 dice. Though extremely intelligent, he has on several occasions made reference to his scarring childhood in which his mother physically abused him[24] and blamed him for his father's leaving due to his body's being "swollen with evil"[25] (in fact, puberty), as well as his parents taking him on a family road trip to such places as "Idaho's largest shitfarm".[26] Tycho's father later "appeared" in a strip where Tycho is informed that his father is actually a massive, sentient, cancerous tumor disguised as a human.

He and his brother share mutual animosity towards each other (implied to be because the brother is jealous of Tycho's success), noting that "You might recall that Cain and Abel were brothers."[27] It has been mentioned that one of his aunts, believing him to be gay, constantly sends him homoerotic material.[28] Tycho also has a problem with alcoholaddiction.[29] He is noted for having "A judo grip on English". Due to his body harboring a "dark spectre from the world of dreams" his eyes turn red when he is particularly annoyed. This creature is referenced several times before Tycho reveals that it takes the form of a small goat with ten horns.[30][31][32][33]

He has also displayed sexual attraction towards giraffes and ostriches.[34][35][36][37] Tycho also owns a Zune, and claims to be the "only living organism in the universe without an iPod."

Tycho's niece,[27] Annarchy is known as an accomplished polyglot, like her uncle, employing extensive vocabulary, and some knowledge of the Klingon language, a hardcore gamer, claiming to have played Final Fantasy on the Famicom in the original Japanese, and sneaking into the 2005 E3 in his baggage,[38] and recently, a vegetarian[39] out of spite. She was 11 years old when she first made her appearance in the strip.[40] There are repeated implications that Anne and her parents are at least somewhat at odds over her life choice (her mother is in denial about her being a vegetarian).

Anne won a poll held to determine a new story arc, beating out such fan favorites as Cardboard Tube Samurai, Div, Fruit Fucker 2000, and Twisp and Catsby. The story arc's plotline consists of Anne wishing to attend the "1000 Man LAN", but her parents will not allow her to attend because she is forbidden from dating boys.[41] Enlisting the help of her uncle Tycho, she breaks free and is able to attend.[42] Due to her pony & rainbow case mod, she is mocked by other attendees, but becomes enamoured when one, going by the handle Galahad, comes to her defense. She later beats him in the final round of a tournament, and much to her uncle's chagrin, she kisses the boy.

Tycho once allowed her near Gabe, who in turn gave her advice about World of Warcraft. At one point, she went shopping with Tycho, for a Valentine's Day gift for her boyfriend Galahad. Tycho suggests custom embroidery, and presented Anne with a shirt that reads "Stay the fuck away from my niece!"[43] Anne suggests he's trying to sabotage their relationship, a notion that Tycho unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade. She was trapped with Galahad in a mall full of zombies, defending herself with a Klingonbat'leth while breaking up with him.[44]

In one comic, she is seen to be discussing with Gabriel (who is seen baking penis-shaped cookies) the past hype over the Duke Nukem series in light of a new trailer for Duke Nukem Forever.[45] Her latest appearance reveals that Tycho has forbidden her to play World of Warcraft, and that she has been playing the beta for Free Realms.[46]

In Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, she is reimagined as a mechanical genius who is frequently left alone by her globetrotting parents, who despise Tycho and his profession as much as in the comic. She assists Tycho, Gabe, and the Player both by upgrading their weapons and by occasionally entering combat with a flamethrower that does twice the normal damage when used against Fruit Fuckers. In Episode Two, she is much more withdrawn, obsessed with a secret project that culminates in creating a giant robot to oppose Fruit Fucker Prime. Her new support ability is an orbital strike from what Gabe describes as her "awesome Space Blimp".

Tycho's wife, with red hair and glasses, based upon the appearance of Jerry Holkins' real life wife of the same name. Unlike Kara, she doesn't really understand her husband's obsession with computer and consoles games. Tycho accidentally killed her demonstrating a move from Splinter Cell,[47] which he then used as an excuse to sue the entire country of France (successfully) in the storyline "Ripped from Today's Headlines". It was nearly a year before she returned, spotlighting Tycho's bizarre sexual fetish involving long necked animals such as giraffes and ostriches.[34]

A somewhat fanatical Mac user (formerly known as Chuck) who underwent a drastic makeover when he was disfigured after a failed suicide attempt. He had tried to kill himself when he heard that Bungie was bought out by Microsoft and therefore would not be releasing Halo for the Mac.[48] He is very vocal in his contempt for Gabe and Tycho's lack of appreciation for Apple products, and regularly tells the two to "shut [their] pie holes".[49][50]

In addition to telling people to shut their pie holes, pies are often worked into strips where he is present: he baked a pie, Gabe was eating a pie. In On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode Two, Gabe bakes a pie while the player fights Charles. He also prefers to greet Gabe and Tycho with the colorful phrase, "Hey, fuck you". Gabe once painted a big red penis on his door to annoy him, with considerable success.

Other shenanigans with Charles included a phone conversation with Gabe after Tycho had died of SARS; Charles replies with the quip "I'm really excited that you might die". However, he still remains something of a friend to the pair, once trying to get them into an Apple store by mussing up their hair to make them hip (he failed, and Tycho and Gabe ended up standing out in the rain with other friends not hip enough to enter the Apple store). He was also seen working in an Apple store when Gabe and Tycho came in to buy an iPod for their friend, who was being deployed to Iraq; although Charles assumed that this was a pretext for the guys buying one for themselves, it actually was, as noted by Holkins in the corresponding news post, for their friend Clinton, who was leaving for basic training.

Charles helped Gabe learn to work his first Mac; when Gabe asked what cologne he was wearing, he replied "Macintosh".[51] In 2007, a cross-over between PvP and Penny Arcade saw Brent (briefly)[52] working under the management of Charles for his own end goals,[53] with less than successful results.[54]

Charles appears in Episode Two of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness as an obnoxious treasure hunter and Tycho and Gabe's nemesis. He is exceedingly rich as a result of his tomb raiding, and tries to purchase an apartment the Player considers renting purely out of spite. The Player kills him in a duel to the death, and his body is destroyed in a fire started by Gabe.

A drunken, talking DIVX player with a hostile, surly attitude and a penchant for consuming large quantities of alcohol. He is also known to have rough, yet "magical" sex with Gabe's PS2 and considers Gabe and Tycho as weaklings, also insulting them with names such as "ladies," and "girls." He is usually attempting to acquire money for booze or voicing his opinion over how stupid something is. Tycho and Gabe also seem to take him on walks, akin to a pet dog. Jerry Holkins has also claimed Div "represents the hypermasculine impulse [Gabe & Tycho] strive to repress." (referenced from Attack of the Bacon Robots! in the August 20, 2000 strip comment)

In the context of the strip, Jesus Christ is a big fan of FPS and fighting games. He enjoys shooting people in online games when they are talking, and "throwing up the horns" when he wins (this also makes him "fucking metal").[55] Also known for his legendary skill in Mario Kart: Double Dash - for his ability to "bring those blue sparks".[56] He has visited Tycho and Gabe for years and is on a personal level with them, such that he has gone Christmas shopping with Gabe for Tycho (while he did know what Tycho wanted for Christmas, he was unable to buy "the one unholy object his dark soul thirsts for", as it would damn even him. They decided to settle for a Hickory Farms gift box).[57] Jesus also once warned Judas about "being a dick" for team killing.[58] In the strip, the character has also momentarily returned to Earth - not for the rapture, but out of excitement over the prospect of deep fried Twinkies.[59]

Gabe's wife. She has reddish-brown hair and is usually seen wearing a purple T-shirt adorned with a grinning wombat's head. She became a gamer under her husband's influence,[60] though this is rarely mentioned in the strip itself and is instead only referred to in the newsposts written by Krahulik. Kara as a character is directly based on Mike Krahulik's actual wife of the same name, to whom he proposed in a Penny Arcade strip in 1999.[61]